To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as a process but by its hoped for results. This is not only intellectually invalid, it is, in practical terms, blinding oneself in advance to some of the unwanted consequences of the process.
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The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is read more
The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is not that of the man who is taken unprepared, but of him who has prepared and is never taken. On a tragedy of that kind our national morality is duly silent.
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
...the argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason read more
...the argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime read more
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.
Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed read more
Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
The soil of their native land is dear to all the hearts of mankind.
The soil of their native land is dear to all the hearts of mankind.
Government is beating into submission, imprisoning, and killing...The authority of man-made law is entirely due to weapons of the constables read more
Government is beating into submission, imprisoning, and killing...The authority of man-made law is entirely due to weapons of the constables who enforce obedience to its provisions.
Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We read more
Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to rub our guilty conscience against others the way we wipe dirty fingers on a rag. This is as evil a misuse of others as the practice of exploitation.
Of government, at least in democratic states, it may be said briefly that it is an agency engaged wholesale, and read more
Of government, at least in democratic states, it may be said briefly that it is an agency engaged wholesale, and as a matter of solemn duty, in the performance of acts which all self-respecting individuals refrain from as a matter of common decency.
